The Tim Buckley Path

Many e-celebrities travel down the Tim Buckley path, where once normal human beings allow their internet content creation to turn them into egotistical asswipes who like to send photo's of their penis to teenage girls. The path has many phases however, as one does simply not become a douhcebag in an instant, it is something that grows over time. Let's dig deep into the 6 phases of the Tim Buckley Path.

1. Have a fanbase with decent content

You stated making content on the web, you have built a following who likes your work which is generally considered very good. You decide to monetize it and make it apart of your income, which may end up biting you in the ass later. This is the phase everyone should be on the Tim Buckley Path, but as it is with the internet, VERY few people stay at this phasee for a long period of time.

Notable examples: Brad Jones, Red Letter Media

2. Decline in quality

At this point you have been making content for a while and you are probably doing the same shit you were doing a few years ago. Your content starts to get stale and you clearly are sick of doing it. A normal person would stop and move on to different projects, but there is one problem...

...YOU WERE DUMB ENOUGH TO DO THIS FOR A JOB!!!

Because of this, you keep pumping out content because it is your job and the depressing reality eats at you on the inside. This starts to reflect on the work itself as fans start noticing you're not as passionate as you used to be a few years ago and tell you you're getting stale.

Your fanboys however, will not notice these problems at all and will relentlessly kiss your ass. If you have a level head you will ignore these people but keep doing your job anyway because you need to eat, but if you don't these people will drive you to proceed to phase 3 of the path.

Notable examples: Zero Puncuation, AVGN

3. Create a straw man

Your content has gotten worse, some of your fans are letting you know this but you don't give a fuck and want to tell them to go fuck themselves. Congratulations, you have an ego, but you haven't reached phase 5 yet. You know that if you flat out insult them you will be a complete prick, so instead you decide to be "clever" and "subtle" by creating a character that represents people who don't like you. In other words, you created a strawman like the manchild that you are since you see things in black and white.

This strawman must be presented as an idiot, loser or both. Examples of this character include Douchey Mc Nitpick, Chuckles the Jester (Spoony) and in a self aware but equally douchey example, MovieBob's Strawman. Be sure to give this character a whiny voice, fail to acknowledge any legitimate point they may have and above all, do not present them as an intelligent person. Because at this stage you have become such a smug, egotistical dickhead that you see anyone who doesn't agree with you as a retard. 

In other words you are a token Left Wing asswipe.

Examples: Nostalgia Chick, MovieBob

4. Censor your forums

Your forums have turned into a shitstorm now. People have noticed your ego is getting out of control and they are starting to talk about it. The influx of negative comments is growing and your fanboys are in an all out Civil War with the Cynics, trying to combat them with speleing erorz, THE ALMIGHTY CAPS LOCK,  and their most powerful tool, retarded logical statements (e.g. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT DON'T WATCH IT).

Because your ego is out of control, you ONLY want to be surrounded by the fanboys, so you join their side in the war and use the ultimate weapon, the banhammer.  You swing that thing like Mario in Donkey Kong and raze the place to the ground until it is all smiles and fucking sunshine.

You can attempt to justify this in a number of ways. You could say that you want a "happier and positive community" that isn't full of arguing, while only telling the negative people to fuck off rather than putting your fanboys in line as well. You could make bullshit claims that you want comments to be "Constructive" and expect a college professor standard essay that is more sugar coated than Frosted Flakes for anything negative, but you are perfectly fine with positive comments that say "THAT WAS AWESOME BRO" without elaboration.

You can also create a list of arbitrary rules like "Don't be a dick" that are intentionally vague and easily corruptible so you can swing your banhammer like the 6 year old with ADD that you are, yet still claim that you are "following the rules" and that you are not a dickhole (spoilers, you actually are).

Make sure to place your most loyal and rabid fanboys as moderators on your forum. They love you more than you love yourself (yes, it's possible) so they will be extremely dedicated to your cause of cleansing the non believers. And they call Al Queda extremists, pffft.

Notable Examples: TGWTG, The Escapist, The Archfeind

5. Treat your fans like shit

Now you're surrounded by nothing but your most dedicated fans. They probably have Deviant Art pages of you in Rule 34 where they openly admit they want you to shit inside their mouths while they jack off. They flood TV Tropes to add every single quote you have ever spouted out and will defend you on every forum they visit. You notice this and you have a epiphany...

YOUR FANS SUCK AND YOU HATE EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM!!!!

Your community is full of brown nosing shit heads who are more needy than a coke addict near a drug dealer. They tell you your awesome at everything even when you know it isn't true and you have the same look on your face that Sonic has when he is around Amy Rose. Speaking of which, your fans probably fap like crazy over her.

There are 2 ways to treat your fans like shit. Firstly, it is at conventions. Seeing these people when they aren't hiding behind a My Little Pony avatar sickens you, as your fans look like the kind of people that belong in basements and are even more socially awkward looking than you, especially with the horrible costumes they are wearing. Being disappointed that your life's work has only attracted the beasts from underneath the earth's crust, you lash out at them by talking down to them like they are shit in public.  This will cause you to not get invited to any conventions other than ones that you have created for yourself.

Secondly, it is on your own forums and comment pages, i.e. the Spoony Method. Even though you want everyone there to be happy and agree, you have no problem acting like the same "Trolls" that have been banned on your forums. You are abusive and arrogant towards your fans in debates, and will threaten to ban them for trivial shit like not liking the original Star Wars Trilogy or something.  If a negative comment does somehow manage to sneak past your personal KGB, you will respond to it with extreme hostility and act like a spoiled fat child who didn't get his cake.

This is why you don't have any friends in the real world.

Notable Example: Spoony

6. Become a Pedophile

Oh great, you fucked up big time now. You just couldn't resist the fangirl pussy couldn't you?

Since the only fans you have that are dumb enough to want to fuck you are horny, lonely and miserable teenagers (lol, Monty),  at this stage you realise "FUCK IT, I'm not getting any in the real world, and she loves me so much that she will never tell".

Unfortunately you forget that these teenagers will grow up in a few years and realise how stupid they were for wanting to see your penis. This regret will eat at them inside until they find out that they can get back at you by posting this publicly.

Congratulations, you have become a despicable creature that only a mother could love. Actually scratch that, your parents just disowned you. Maybe you should have sorted out your real life rather than trying to live off some shit on the internet you made.

At least TGWTG hasn't gone this far yet...

FFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

Notable Examples: Tim Buckley, rumoured to be Archfiend

Where does your favourite celebrity lie on the Tim Buckley path?